There is a lot of information out there on how to lose weight. Unfortunately, this information very often does not take into account our individual differences or our unique biology. If you are someone who has a slow metabolism, then you will burn fewer calories than someone who has a very fast one.

If you are someone who is very tall, then the amount you need to eat is different than it is for someone very short. Even more extreme though are the differences between men and women and the strategies that work best for each. If you are female and you are trying to lose weight, then here are some tips that you might not have read before…

Lift Weights

The biggest tip that every woman should know when it comes to weight loss, is that they should try weightlifting or another form of ‘resistance’ training.

In other words, women should drop the over-reliance on cardio exercise and start lifting weights!

Many women worry about this because they think that they are going to get ‘too bulky’ and that the resultant look will be unattractive.

In reality though, it is actually very hard to become bulky and especially for a woman. What’s more likely is that added muscle mass will simply speed up your metabolism (muscle is what we call ‘metabolically active’) and that will allow you to burn fat at a faster rate.

In fact, this is one of the main reasons that men lose weight faster than women!
At the same time, lifting weight will help women to gain the right proportions, to tone up and to increase their tone and definition in order to get rid of things like cellulite. It will even increase the production of fat burning hormones!

The fastest way to get a more attractive body as a woman is to lift weights.

Consider Other Lifestyle Factors, Medications and Conditions

Hormones play a large role in fat burning and muscle mass and the biggest drivers here include testosterone and estrogen.

So, women are at a disadvantage already when it comes to burning fat but things get more complicated still when you consider the other factors involved: things like the menstrual cycle for instance which causes hormones to fluctuate at different times of the month.

More of an issue is the role of contraceptive medication which can cause weight gain or weight loss depending on how the body reacts.

Then there are conditions like polycystic ovaries which only affect women and like hypothyroidism which is more common for women. If you find it very difficult to lose weight, consult your doctor.

And make sure that you are eating well and getting all of your nutrients in order to support your body’s metabolic function and hormone balance.

Finally, note that these hormones also impact on emotional eating – which studies confirm to be a larger issue for women versus men. Keep this in mind and try to maintain your emotional state while avoiding temptation as far as you can.

If you want to lose weight, then you need to start eating less and more healthily. Many of us are not the size we want to be and the primary reason for that is that we eat too much and we eat too much of the wrong things.

The problem is that it isn’t as easy to fix your diet as you might initially expect. Eating right means that you need the money to spend on fruits and vegetables (that tend to go off in no time at all) and you need the time to prepare all the food and clean up afterward.

If you’re going to start eating healthier then, the smart thing to do is to think ahead and to make this as easy as possible so that you don’t get caught out by a lack of time, motivation or space. Here are some ways to do that…

Get the Right Appliances

If you want to make cooking in the kitchen easier, then there are a ton of appliances and gadgets that can help you to do just that.

A great example is a blender or a food processor. This can be used to mix fruits into a smoothie, or to mix vegetables into a soup.

Either way, this will give you a ton of highly beneficial nutrients in an easy-to-eat form factor that will only take a few minutes to prepare.

Another good example is a dishwasher. This will wash up your plates and dishes for you after you’ve eaten, meaning you’ll need to spend less time washing up after you have finished and can spend more time cooking and preparing your food as a result.

Learn the Right Recipes

Of course being able to cook quickly also comes down to having the right recipes. This is why it’s very much spending some time to learn meals that are quick and easy to prepare while still containing lots of highly beneficial nutrients and being low calorie.

Cook in Bulk

Common advice is to cook at the start of the week and then simply heat it up to eat during the week. This is a nice idea but the reality is that most of us don’t want to give up an entire Sunday to cooking.

A better solution then will often be to cook at the usual time but to prepare larger batches. This way, you’ll have spare food that you can enjoy on other evenings.

You can even freeze some for further in the future. Crucially, this process doesn’t take any longer than cooking the usual portions.

Eat Consistently

One particularly important tip is to try and eat more consistently during the day. That means eating a relatively samey breakfast and lunch. While this isn’t as exciting as eating fresh and original meals every day, you’ll still have the evening to do that.

For breakfast and lunch though, you’ll now be able to get your food faster without having to count calories or learn new recipes.

Stress is a common feeling that every human being experiences. As we all know from experience, stress can impact your life negatively and it should, therefore, be dealt with properly. Stress may be unavoidable but how it is handled is our choice. Managing stressful situations is all about taking charge of your thoughts, lifestyle, emotions, and the way you handle problems.

When faced with a stressful situation at work or in your personal life, it is very common to worry, panic and be fearful which can result in poor performance and inaction. To avoid this, here are a few tips that can help you manage stress.

Determine the Sources of Stress in your Life

Identifying the sources of stress should be the first step before you know how you will deal with them. It can be easy to identify the major stressful situations like moving from home, changing jobs, or losing a loved one, but identifying the day to day stress can prove to be hard. In order to recognize your true source of stress you should look into your attitude, habits, and excuses.

Take Care of Yourself

You will be able to handle stress better if you are in good physical and mental shape. Looking after yourself by having fun, building time for relaxation, exercising, eating healthily, and attaining a balance between your personal and work life is important.

Be a Positive Thinker

Positive thinking makes one feel confident and in control. You should envision a positive outcome to a stressful situation and focus on your successes rather than your failures. Focusing on obstacles that you have overcome also helps you feel in control.

Connect with Others

Social engagement is the most efficient and quickest way to reduce stress and to avoid overreacting to both external and internal events that you recognize as threatening. Expressing what you are feeling or going through to a person that you know will understand you can be very helpful. You should, therefore, reach out to friends and family more and connect with them regularly in person.

Accept Things You Cannot Change

Some sources of stress in our lives are unavoidable and can’t be changed. The best way to cope with such stress is to accept things the way they are. Acceptance may prove to be difficult but in the long run, it is a better way than trying to fix a situation that you can’t change.

Practice Forgiveness

Accepting that we all live in an imperfect world where people make mistakes is a good way of perceiving things. Let go of resentments and anger by forgiving and moving on with your life.

When we say ‘body of a fighter’, we are not really referring to boxers. Boxers tend to have a higher body fat percentage and more rounded look. Rather, we are talking about martial artists who tend to look highly honed and lean. These are fast and powerful fighters that look healthy and mean.

They also tend to have certain features that are more dominant than others. As well as low body fat, they tend to have large triceps, pecs like armor plating and ripped mid-sections.

How to Develop Speed and Power

The most important principle to keep in mind when looking to transform the body is ‘SAID’. This stands for ‘Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands’.

In other words, the challenges you face the body with will trigger changes that make it better able to cope with those same challenges in future.

Thus, one of the best ways to get a fighters’ body is to hit a punch bag. This is a great way to develop hand-eye coordination, to build muscle in the shoulders, pecs, abs and triceps and to burn fat through ‘concurrent training’ (cardio with added resistance).

To get started, find some combinations and throw these repeatedly until you are too tired to continue. Remember to use your hips and legs to drive the punches forward.

Combine this with lifting heavy weights using compound movements. This will train the entire body in unison while demanding maximum muscle fiber recruitment and coordination from the body.

Diet

On top of the correct training, it is also crucial for a fighter to eat the right diet. This should be a diet that is high in protein to support muscle synthesis, as well as complex carbohydrates and fats to provide a steady supply of energy for training.

As is always the case, simple carbohydrates such as cake and chocolate should be left out – as these provide no benefit for the body while encouraging weight gain!

A lot of bodybuilders still rely on going through bulking and cutting cycles in order to get the incredible muscle physiques that they display on stage.

This makes sense because it is the quickest and most efficient way to add muscle. Adding muscle means being in a calorie surplus. The more calories you consume, the more anabolic your body will be – the more testosterone will be washing around your body and the less likely you will be to burn muscle for fuel. But of course, eating extra calories makes it even harder not to gain any fat – and especially when you’re getting them from sugar ‘weight gainer’ products and the like.

Fortunately, this isn’t a problem for bodybuilders. They simply follow this period up with a period of dieting hard, which causes their body to burn the fat away from the muscle. A tiny bit of muscle is lost but mainly, it’s fat that will disappear. Hence the ‘bulk and cut’.

But you’re not a bodybuilder (probably). You probably don’t want to spend half the year looking overweight. So how can you use cardio to stay lean and add muscle at the same time?

The Problem With Cardio

The reason that most bodybuilders will stay away from intensive cardio when they’re bulking is that it puts the body once again in a catabolic state. When you run using steady state cardio, your body will supply energy by turning to your blood sugar and your fat stores.

Unfortunately, this means your blood sugar drops. And when your blood sugar drops, your body responds by releasing ghrelin, the hunger hormone. Ghrelin release is always followed by cortisol (the stress hormone) and cortisol is followed by myostatin – a molecule that signals the breakdown of muscle. The more myostatin, the more muscle you lose.

Add to the fact that your body will get 15% of its energy from protein and you have a scenario that is not good for building muscle.

The Answer

There are a few solutions.

One such option is to walk. Walking will allow you to burn energy at a much slower rate and avoid completely depleting your energy stores. This means you never get to the point where you have very low blood sugar and you never start cannibalizing that hard-won muscle.

Another option is to use HIIT. This is High Intensity Interval Training, which means alternating between spurts of sprinting and periods of jogging. The good thing about this is that the sprinting portion doesn’t burn blood sugar or muscle and instead relies on energy stored as glycogen. You’ll spend less time in a catabolic state and lose less muscle as a result – and so many bodybuilders will use HIIT ‘finishers’ following a workout.

Finally, you can also use nutrition to protect yourself and reduce your chances of losing muscle. The best way to do this is by consuming BCAAs – branch chained amino acids. These have been shown to have a very positive effect in reducing muscle breakdown during exercise.

Most guys say that they want to lose their belly fat and would like to get a flat stomach. While this is an understandable aim however, it is also a rather unambitious one. Because surely what most guys would really like is to have a ripped set of six pack abs!

A six pack is one of the best indicators of overall health and fitness. It’s a look that the opposite sex finds highly attractive and that is most often sported by Hollywood actors, cover models and top actors.

It also happens to be functionally very useful and able to improve your performance in just about every movement and sport.

So how do you go about getting the look?

Diet

The first thing of course is to diet. That means you need to try to maintain a rough caloric deficit, as well as concentrating on precisely how and when you are eating your food in order to try and ensure that you don’t encourage your body to store any more fat than necessary.

Doing this will allow you to lower your body fat percentage and this is important because it is what will allow you to get your abs to show through your stomach.

Often you will hear that you will have visible abs as long as your body fat is sub 10%.

This is true, as at this low level of fat, even underdeveloped abs will protrude and be visible. However, if you combine exercise as well (see the next section), then you won’t need to get your percentage that low.

Someone like Chris Evans (Captain America) is a great example of how good your abs can look at around 12-15%.

Exercise

With that in mind then, you also need to focus on training your abs to increase their strength and make them thicker and thus more visible. To see how this can look, try contracting your abs right now.

You’ll find they instantly become more visible, which shows just what a difference the size of these muscles makes.

Your abs are actually made up from multiple muscle groups, but the part that creates the six-pack look is called the rectus abdominis. This is the sheet of muscle on the front of the stomach that is used in order to prevent the body from bending backwards and to help us lean forward.

To train this area then, you need to perform exercise that involve bending forward such as sit ups and crunches. What’s important is to make sure you feel the rectus abdominis doing the work and that you are folding at the stomach.

In other words, do not allow yourself to bend at the hips, in which case you won’t really be working the abs at all.

Another tip is to train the transverse abdominis too. This is the band of muscle that wraps around the core and that holds the stomach in while supporting the back.

This is what will help to keep your stomach flat, while the rectus abdominis gives it the detail.

Nothing can ever replace the damage caused by stress to your body. Busy schedules, work deadlines, and other environmental factors promote stress and reduce the natural defenses of the body. Fortunately, there is a lot you can do to combat stress. Healthy eating has a positive effect in reducing stress in a natural and effective way.

Here are top foods that combat stress.

1. Blueberries

Blueberries are a proven stress buster. It is crammed with antioxidants that revives and rejuvenates the damaged cells in the body and relieves stress. It neutralizes free radicals in the body and prevents cell damage. It also improves the body’s response to fight stress and anxiety. Besides, blueberries also improve immunity, which again, plays a vital role in reducing stress.

2. Dark chocolate

This could be an ultimate delight for chocolate lovers. Not all chocolates have the power to combat stress in an effective way, but the dark chocolate which has a relaxing effect on your body. Studies reveal that consumption of dark chocolate shows a reduction in cortisol- the stress hormone, thereby relieving stress. The cocoa has a high amount of antioxidant that lowers the blood pressure and relaxes the blood vessels. For a calming effect, go for chocolates that have over 70 % cocoa, says experts.

3. Avocados

If you are not trying to lose weight, avocados may prove to be beneficial for combating stress. The creamy fruit contains glutathione that blocks the absorption of fats responsible for the oxidative damage. The fruit also increases satiety and you feel more satisfied. This reduces stress and promotes a better health. Since it is high in fats, consider limiting your intake by adding just half an avocado in your lunch.

4. Cashews

Nuts have always been a great snack, but cashews have an added advantage. The crunchy nut is packed with proteins and omega-3s that reduce cravings and make you feel full. They are rich in zinc that helps in preventing stress. Zinc deficiency is one of the major causes of stress and anxiety. So, replenishing your zinc stores may help in preventing stress altogether. Having a few every day may seem beneficial for anyone. Besides, they can also be a great snack for those trying to lose weight due to its high protein content.

5. Salmon

Eating salmon has many heath benefits, the major being stress relief. The fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acid which is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. Studies show that it helps in reducing the stress hormone cortisol as well as adrenaline and induces a calming effect. People who consume salmon on a regular basis have shown a reduced level of stress as compared to those who do not. In addition to it, salmon is also a great food for your heart.

There are many ways to approach weight loss but one of the most popular options these days is to invest in buying an ebook, an online course or a set of DVDs. These programs are widely available online and through TV ads and they promise to make weight loss easy by giving us all the information we need laid out in front of us and removing any and all guess work.

But do these diet plans really work? Are they good value? And what can you do to get the most from them?

The Cynical View

One thing to consider is that diet plans can often be over-priced and poorly thought out.
This is not to say that they are ineffective or that the authors don’t know what they are talking about. Often though, the plans are designed in such a way that they will be very difficult to stick to and that most people won’t be able to keep them up for long.

These can often include elaborate eating plans that involve lots of preparation and cost a lot of money, or they might involve lengthy workouts.

Either way, this is not a concern for the author – as from their point of view they will still have sold a product that worked and the only problem was with your inability to stick with it.

Then there is the price.

A training program that costs several hundred dollars might be worth it in terms of the results, but there is no getting around the fact that most of the information is probably available online for much less.

This makes the product poor value at best and certainly not a good way to spend your cash.

The Promising Aspect

That said, this is of course not true for every training program. Some programs will be written with longevity in mind by people who really care.

And some will be available for much less, or will include lots of extras – perhaps personalization.
Personalization is important in fact, because everyone is different and different training programs work better for different people.

With all that in mind, you should have a better idea of what to look for and hopefully you can decide for yourself what would be good value for such a program.

More Advice

Perhaps the most important tip of all though, is that you mustn’t wait for your training program or treat it as gospel. Too often, people will read training programs and buy training programs almost as a form of procrastination.

This is like an unspoken agreement between the seller and the buyer.
While advice can make a big difference and help you to train faster, the reality is that losing weight should not be complicated and essentially amounts to eating less and exercising more.

You can start doing this immediately – there is no need to wait for a training program or diet plan. Don’t use it as an excuse!

What’s the very best way to lose weight? Most people now agree that it probably has something to do with HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training. This is a training format that challenges you to divide your time spent in the gym between high intensity bursts of sprinting or otherwise exerting yourself at 100% MHR and periods of active recovery at around 70%.

But what if you could do something to make this HIIT method even more impressive? How can you get even greater results from what is already a very effectual tool?

The answer is to use concurrent training…

What is Concurrent Training?

Simply, concurrent training is a form of training that combines cardio and resistance into one exercise. This is why it can also sometimes be referred to as ‘resistance cardio’. The idea is then that you are going to perform some kind of rapid movement but while doing it, you will be pushing or pulling against some kind of weight or resistance.

An obvious example of this would be to ride a stationary bike but to increase the resistance setting to ten so that you have to use more strength in your muscles to turn the pedals.

Other examples of concurrent training include certain forms of calisthenics – like clapping push ups or push ups – as well as boxing, swimming, rowing on a heavy setting or the kettlebell swing. The kettlebell swing is of particular interest here because it allows you to lift quiet a heavy weight in a manner that is conducive to long sequences of exertion.

Why it Matters

So why is concurrent training so important? What’s exciting about it?

There are a couple of things that make this such a great too. The first is that by combining resistance and cardio in one routine, you are actually significantly increasing the challenge. You’ll find it harder to move your limbs due to the resistance and thus you’ll need more fast twitch muscle fiber. This requires more energy and so you’ll burn more calories than performing the same movements without the resistance.

Better yet though, when you perform concurrent training, you’ll be protecting your muscle from breakdown. HIIT does this to an extent already but when you include resistance work, you effectively send a strong signal to the body that you need the muscle and it’s not just deadweight slowing you down.

In biological terms, you will be breaking down muscles and flooding them with metabolites, both of which are signals that encourage growth. You’ll produce more growth hormone and more testosterone and these both trigger growth and fat loss.

Better yet, building muscle is great for weight loss goals. That’s because muscle makes you look more toned and honed and is often the quicker way to get the physique you want. Moreover, muscle is metabolically active meaning that you burn more calories by simply having muscle. If you add muscle work into your routine, you’ll burn more fat even when you’re asleep!

In today’s modern society, there are lots of things to do that causes we always come to feel we do not have sufficient time to complete everything. It is not unusual for many individuals to go to bed until midnight and then wake up too early every day to fit in everything. You may think that it is not such a negative thing. Ok, now let us take a peek at the significance of having a quality sleep for our overall health.

Numerous aspects of sleep are still undiscovered at present, even though experts have been engaged in many different scientific studies for decades. Clearly, sleep has long been a mystery. Even so, there are a few facts to convince you that sleep is an important activity.

Simply have a look at a young child. When it happens to be the time for him/her to take a nap, soon you will have to deal with problems since the child will start conducting unpleasant things. Having said that, after getting a short nap, he/she will get back to be fun again. In reality, the same also happens for older people when they have sleep deprivation. Needless to say, they will not exhibit the same responses as toddlers will do, but similar things truly happen.

Some processes take place during sleep. A bodily chemical that influences growth, cell reproduction and regeneration in humans is issued while you are getting a good sleep. This hormone is very essential during the growth period of children. This clarifies the reason babies require sleep so many hours every day. HGH, or human growth hormone, is at the same time used for restoration of tissue structure that is the reason older people need eight hours of sleep every night for their bodies to get the rest they need to repair and re-energize.

Besides issuing HGH, while sleeping other important processes also take place. A system that protects against disease, for example, is affected by the quality of your sleep. Simply put, the body’s defense mechanism will not function normally in case you have sleep deprivation. It has also been known that acquiring a sufficient amount of sleep is important for an individual who wants to manage his weight.

In essence, the significance of sleep cannot be emphasized enough. Lack of sleep has unwanted side effects on your physical and mental condition such as finding it hard to concentrate and to make reasonable judgments. This can put you into a dangerous situation, especially when you must react to something extremely fast.

As just stated, sleep can be viewed as-as an activity for developing and rebuilding. It is needed to regain the energy that has been worn out all day. If you have quality, sound sleep, you will acquire an adequate amount of energy to carry out the new day’s tasks. Even so, bear in mind that the amount of sleep you must have may be not equal with others. Just make sure you always get the full amount of sleep required. If not, your system will begin asking for it.